Folks in Coolidge Corner like their sushi - easily figured out by the growing number of Japanese restaurants sprouting up. Blue Ocean is a newer addition and therefore tends to attract fewer crowds than the older, more established places.

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One of a couple of Mr. Sushi restaurants, fine Japanese cuisine. Noodle dishes and other entrees are good but the sushi is the specialty.

Entering FuGaKyu (“house of exquisite elegance”) is like walking into the Japanese pavilion at the World's Fair; it doesn't exactly feel authentic, but it's cool nonetheless. The first floor of the impeccably decorated two-story space is composed of a slick black and red bar, a large sushi bar, complete with conveyor-belt-delivered condiments, and a number of private, bamboo-screened booths (you should call ahead to reserve one); the airy upper floor offers a more conventional, cozy table layout. The enormous menu is long on just about everything, including pages and pages of sushi options that may easily confuse the uninitiated (individual pieces $1.50-$3.75, mixed platters $17-$21), beyond sushi there are noodle dishes ($13) and specialties of the house ($15-$20). Sample the house special chocolate wrap -- a banana wrapped with a chocolate omelette and batter fried. Note the remarkably long hours; this is surely your best bet for sushi in Brookline at one o'clock in the morning.

A few blocks from Coolidge Corner (towards RT9) is a beautiful little restaurant that serves delicious traditional and fusion Japanese treats. Eat in or take away.

Japanese-French fusion incorporates good ingredients with sometimes unusual presentations in its pricey dishes. Though Kawa's cuisine can be interesting, it's hard to see how it will compete with its popular sibling Fugakyu downstairs.